CREDIT: SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 19: Thom Yorke of Atoms for Peace performs as part of the Treasure Island Music Festival on October 19, 2013 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

Leopallooza is a tiny music festival in Cornwall, England described by organizers as “The greatest house party… in a field.” It’s so tiny, in fact, that at about 2:30AM Saturday night the number of people remaining on site dwindled to single digits. That’s when none other than Thom Yorke hopped on stage for a secret DJ set in the backstage area. According to The London Evening Standard (and this Facebook post by the festival), this was a planned gig, not a spontaneous action on Yorke’s part; the Leopallooza people just didn’t want Yorke to steal the attention from all the other artists on the bill. The paper quoted one person in attendance: “He’s probably the most influential artist of the past decade and here he is prepping to play to half a dozen drunk hippies.” Yorke has been known to do surprise DJ gigs in intimate settings, but rarely has he been as anonymous as he was in Cornwall. Adds the Standard reporter, “The ‘Creep’ singer was last seen being press-ganged into a dosey-doe by barn-dancing locals — many of whom had no idea who he was.” Alright Thom, you’ve had your fun — now back to work on that new Radiohead material.

(By the way, is the double-L in Leopallooza driving anybody else nuts? The -palooza suffix is clearly spelled with a single L.)

UPDATE: Leopallooza organizer Cai Waggett cleared some things up in a note to Pitchfork:

Thom is a good friend of the festival and he understands the DIY ethos of this independent event, and he offered a late-night set in our backstage area as a little exclusive, playing alongside the excellent DJ Samo. It was purposely kept quiet until very close to his performance so as not to overshadow anything else going on at the time.
There are several parts I need to correct in relation to the Evening Standard piece quoted!!

1. It was at 12:30am (not 2/2:30am)
2. The air was completely patchouli free.
3. There were at least 30 people present throughout (not including the 7 bar staff working that bar at the time!)
4. No Barn dancing/Line dancing/Dosie-do’ing/
Riverdancing/Morris dancing ever took place – it was just dancing!
5. People knew who he was, but everyone respected his right to have fun & party during his down time. Just as they did everyone else!
6. Somehow it was missed that he also played last year too…. http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t31.0-8/c0.166.1549.1033/s960x960/1268559_10151877146028428_1742897078_o.jpg

Hope that clears it up a bit! Going to get in touch with the Evening Standard separately!
Happy to be quoted!